At this time of year, there will always be one or two hurricanes that will patronize the East China Sea, and at this time, no one on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, whether Fujian or Dayuan, except for a very small number of maritime merchants and fishermen who are familiar with the old days, basically no one dares to leave the shore.

Rather strong wind and rain enveloped Xiamen Island, and the historic southeast coastal ancient city was quietly crawling in the sea breeze. From time to time, a huge wind will also lift the tiles of some simple houses, flying like toys in the dim rain. There has been some seawater backflow in the water village, countless small boats crashing into the dock, and occasionally small sampans blown ashore by the wind and rain, which are very comically dangling in the water village6.

It wasn't until late at night that the storm gradually faded, and the once dark city of Xiamen gradually brightened, and the crying of the people after someone was unfortunately killed in the storm can still be heard.

The wind and rain outside could only pass the night, and in the study room of the Fujian Haiphong General Military Mansion, early the next morning, Zheng Zhilong sat behind the bookcase, practicing calligraphy calmly, as if he had never cared about the storm that ravaged Xiamen from beginning to end.

Outside the study, there was still the ticking sound of rain water flowing from the eaves, and in the corridor, ten steps, one post, five steps, and one sentry were full of heavily armed soldiers, and the maids and servants who went to and from the study were all bowing their heads tightly, not daring to make a sound.

Since he was promoted to the chief soldier of Fujian coastal defense by the Ming court, Zheng Zhilong moved his old nest to Xiamen. Although Kinmen has also been in business for a long time, Xiamen here and the big 6 are more difficult to distinguish from each other, and the conditions are much better than Kinmen Island in all aspects, so in just a few years, Xiamen has increased rapidly under the investment of the Zheng family, and the prosperity of maritime trade is second only to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou next door.

In recent years, the Zheng family's exhibition in the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty has been very smooth, and they have officially extended their influence to the Zhoushan Islands by taking the opportunity of Zheng Hongkui as the deputy general of Zhoushan. Zhoushan has always been the dead end of the Ming Sea ban, and since the early 16th century, it has been the smuggling base of the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty. Both maritime merchants and pirates were numerous and mixed. After recovering some local land snakes, taking advantage of the mature geographical conditions of Zhoushan, the Zheng family's trade plate in the East China Sea expanded a lot compared with before.

The biggest beneficiary of Japan's trade lockdown is the Zheng family, and now the Zheng family has eaten almost the vast majority of the trade between Ryukyu and Japan. In the competition with the Yan family, most of the trade routes in Shandong, Liaodong and North Korea were also mastered by the Zheng family. Taking advantage of the current chaos of the Great Tomorrow Disaster**, the Zheng family abandoned the Nanyang luxury route and put the focus of trade back on basic livelihood goods.

Rice, tea, raw silk from Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, refined salt, refined sugar, cloth, fire oil, matches, edible oil, soap, medicine and so on from Nanyang. The Zheng family benefited greatly from the above trade routes, and supported the Zheng family's increasingly large sea 6 forces. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the soldiers and horses in the border towns of Fujian and Zhejiang of the Ming Dynasty, which were openly in the hands of the Zheng family, had exceeded 50,000, not including the many nepotism that had been dispersed, and they had become a veritable warlord in the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, and were added by the Ming court with official titles such as the governor and the governor.

Another piece of cursive writing with big black characters on the paper was completed, Zheng Zhilong glanced at it a few times, grabbed it and crumpled it into a ball. Gently toss to your feet.

"Big brother, I'm so interested, so stormy, and I still have the leisure to write and paint."

He was taking the teacup from the maid on the side. I heard a hearty laugh. Looking up, a brightly clad young man strode into the study.

"The fifth brother didn't stay in the camp well, what did he do when he came to the General Military Mansion in the wind and rain? Anything important? Zheng Zhilong brushed his short beard and calmly drank the tea.

Zheng Zhibao. is also Zheng Zhilong's younger brother, ranking fifth. Like the fourth brother Zheng Hongkui, he has the influence of the eldest brother Zheng Zhilong in Fujian officialdom. Zheng Zhibao also joined the second-generation club of officials at a young age, not only added to the Nanjing Guozi Eunuch student, but also was awarded the title of general of Quanzhou South Road this year, which can be regarded as completely covering the entire camp and town control around Quanzhou for the Zheng family.

"Big brother, I just received a flying pigeon from Guangzhou, and my brother has already copied it." Zheng Zhibao's appearance is better than that of his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong when he was young, and with a slight smile at this time, he handed over a letter that had been transcribed.

"It's nothing more than Zhao Youheng's training of the new army in Guangzhou, and there is nothing new. Or was Li Guozhu rebelling in Luzon and being broken by the Spaniards? Zheng Zhilong disapplievously threw the letter on the table, not intending to read it.

"On the Luzon side, there are only small rumors. However, there have been a lot of changes in Liangguang. Zhao Youheng hit a nail in Guangzhou, but in Qiongzhou he received a strong donation from the local gentry, not only that, I heard that Zhang Jianye, a sailor who was expelled from the Yan family last year, also voted for Zhao Youheng, sealed a garrison, and served as the chief teacher of Xinzhen. Zheng Zhibao saw that his brother was a little impatient, so he hurriedly reminded him.

"The phoenix that landed is not as good as a chicken, not to mention a small Tibetan propaganda and consolation division guerrilla, what is the fuss ......about" Zheng Zhilong was slightly stunned, but immediately regained his calm.

"Not only that, I heard that when Zhang Jianye took office, he hired a lot of Huamei veteran soldiers from Hong Kong to train soldiers and horses for Xinzhen." Zheng Zhibao lowered his voice, his expression was very strange, "Big brother, even the Yan family, who has a relationship with Hua Meimei, has never been so spacious in these years. Without Zhao Youheng's acquiescence, how dare Zhang Jianye get so close to Huamei? And since the beginning of last year, the ordnance of the Ming Dynasty from Nanyang has been greatly reduced, and there must be another hidden reason for this move! ”

"Are you saying that Zhao Youheng is seeking the help of Huamei to raise a new town? It probably has nothing to do with the South China Sea business in Qiongzhou. Zheng Zhilong smiled coldly, after many years of self-cultivation and recuperation, there was a trace of fluctuation at this time, "Zhang Jianye can enter the new camp in Guangdong, there must be someone who has matched." What a gorgeous one, more than ten years ago, the army came to the east, and the Yan family, Li Guozhu of Luzon and the Nanhai business of Qiongzhou were strongly supported, and now they have extended their hands to Liangguang! ”

"Not only that, for many years, but all the water 6 business exchanges, this beauty everywhere to strangle my Zheng family. Big brother, it's also a business, I don't spare any money to buy all kinds of goods, Huamei will always be involved in three and four, and the price will be increased on the ground, but others can do it lightly, is my Zheng family born with that gorgeous eight characters? ! Zheng Zhibao is young and vigorous, and his words are also very explicit, "I heard that Huamei is complicit with the Nanyang Dutch, looking for an opportunity to go north to Japan to provoke and open a port, won't my Zheng family have to hang it aside again?" The second brother and the fourth brother have long been dissatisfied with this, why can you still swallow your anger, eldest brother! ”

"I can't figure it out for my brother. However, the principles of the world are difficult to fathom, so we can only wait and see how they change......"

I have been very close to the Dutch for a long time, and even now, many of the Chinese military weapons in my hands are bought from the second-tier dealer of the Dutch East India Company. Huamei has been suppressing the Dutch in Nanyang for more than ten years, intentionally or unintentionally, but this time she is fighting the idea of Japanese trade with the Dutch. Zheng Zhilong didn't know what Huamei thought, and this could only be attributed to the fact that Mr. Yan was very jealous of the Zheng family's strong strength in the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, and always wanted to intervene in the law.

"By the way, Sen'er is still in Zhejiang? These two months. Not even a letter came. Suddenly remembering something, Zheng Zhilong called out to Zheng Zhibao, who was about to quit.

The eldest son, Zheng Sen, is the person Zheng Zhilong is most concerned about at present. Zheng Zhilong not only spent a lot of money and connections for his son to be sent to Nanjing Guozijian, but also let his son marry the niece of Dong Yangxian, a waiter of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, last year, which can be regarded as officially stepping into the upper class of the Southern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty, and becoming the beginning of the Zheng family's transformation from a Fujian tyrant to a Jiangnan family.

But behind his son's rigorous and educated image, there is an uneasy heart, which is quite Zheng Zhilong's own demeanor. Shortly after returning to Quanzhou from Hong Kong, he went to Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province to get back and forth with Chen Zilong, a celebrity in the south of the Yangtze River.

But it didn't take long. The mountain riots of Qiu Lingxiao, a native of Tingzhou, Fujian, broke out in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces, and Chen Zilong, under the control of Dong Xiangheng, the governor of Zhejiang, took the Fubiao battalion to participate in the suppression, and Zheng Sen also followed Chen Zilong to counsel the military affairs. In the name of it, it is called increasing knowledge.

Chen Zilong, one of the talented sons of the "Six Sons of Several Societies", suppressed the popular uprising that lasted for more than a year in history, and finally killed Xu Du, another Jiangnan celebrity who led the civil uprising, which can be said to have left a stain on his life. But under the wings of a butterfly, Zheng Sen also started his military career in advance.

"I heard that he was in Chen Zilong's camp and participated in the suppression of the three provincial capitals. There is also a new official by his side, named Shi Lang. Zheng Zhibao hurriedly stopped and turned around.

"Chen Zilong is a Jiangnan celebrity, no matter how close he is. What kind of character is that Shi Lang? Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong felt a little strange.

"As soon as I landed on the show, I voted for the General's Office last year and made a paperwork. On weekdays, he has a low eye and a low hand, and he boasts that he can be both civil and military, and he has been very close to his eldest nephew recently. Such a useless person, it is better to rush it. Zheng Zhibao thought about it and said the news he had gotten so far.

"The third-rate nine sects are mixed with fish and eyes. It's good for Sen'er to practice his eyesight, so let Shi Lang follow him, maybe he can really be used by Sen'er in the future. ”

Although Zheng Zhilong hopes that his son can make more friends with famous Confucian families in Jiangnan, he does not plan to block his son's interpersonal communication at this time. In his opinion, his son is very similar to him in many ways, and perhaps his son has a similar personality charm that can attract others to follow.

In the past 20 years, whether it is people or things, Zheng Zhilong has always relied on the forward-looking stream of consciousness to make decisions, and every choice seems to be smooth sailing, but in fact it is full of opportunities and risks. In other words, he himself was born with a gambling instinct. And his son is not focused on his studies now, and he runs around at a young age, which is probably in line with some of Zheng Zhilong's own values.

A muffled thunder sounded, and there were signs of a storm returning, so Zheng Zhilong continued to return to the bookcase and continue to practice calligraphy.

……

The overwhelming wind and rain also wrapped the big man Dongning City on the other side of the strait.

In the same prefect's mansion, Yan Sicheng was looking at a document and account book, and after thinking about it, he added a few instructions at the end with a brush, which was regarded as the end of another government affairs.

"My lord, a few days ago, I sent a letter from the merchant ship of the Oriental Union Group that was stranded at the wharf in Jilong County. The Seventh Lady and the others have returned safely to Huamei Beijing. A copy of the letter copied from the OUCC Merchant Marine Radio was placed on the table again.

"Well, got it, you go down...... By the way, is the prospecting team of the Oriental Union Group still in the chicken coop? Yan Sicheng nodded, and shouted to the subordinates who turned around.

"Back to my lord, the port has been closed for many days in the wind and rain, and he has not yet returned. However, I heard that the prospecting team has found a number of ore veins in Jilong Nanshan, and there are countless gold, silver, copper and coal. The subordinate hurriedly bowed.

No longer caring about the humble attitude of his subordinates, until there was no longer anyone in the study, Yan Sicheng took out a stack of delicate papers that had been shelved for several months from under the paperweight on the side.

On the cover of the crisp paper, there is a line of large letters: The big people jointly open the investment project plan. The payment was made by the Ministry of Commerce of the United States of America and Huamei Oriental United Group. The whole set of joint development plans includes a package of industrial and agricultural cooperation projects.

In terms of industry, the plan once again mentions the large-scale participation of the Oriental Union Group in the development of mineral resources in Jilong County. As long as the big people accept the conditions of the joint opening and set aside 40% of the industrial shares of the relevant projects, a large number of Huamei mining machinery can enter the big people, and these machines are free gifts. For example, the Yan family has already opened sulfur, coal and other mine outputs, and the Oriental Union Group has also proposed the right of first refusal.

Secondly, OUCC will also invest in the establishment of a large-scale cement brick and tile factory in Dayuan, which will provide labor and raw materials, and the shares will be divided in half.

In addition, in view of the fact that the castor and castor silkworm industry introduced by Dayuan has begun to take shape, OUCC Group will export advanced silk reeling machinery to help Dayuan establish a raw silk reeling factory and a large-scale castor oil mill, which will greatly improve the output and quality of raw silk and castor oil. The shareholding ratio is similar to that of the mining projects, and the Oriental Union Union Group will have to take a 30 percent stake in these factories for 20 years, and it will have to use loans from the Oriental Bank, and all output must be exported to Huamei.

In terms of agriculture, the Oriental Union Group intends to jointly establish a series of large-scale farms in Dongning Province, Tianxing County and Yanjia, with a total scale of 1o acres, with advanced agricultural machinery as a shareholder, which is still a 20-year contract of 30% shares. But what to grow must be decided by OUCC, which also has the right to price and purchase farm output.

All in all, all kinds of forced buying and selling, making the big man seem to be advancing by leaps and bounds, and at the same time, someone pinched his neck.

"Seventh sister, seventh sister, no matter how much Huamei takes care of my eldest member, she is a foreigner after all. It's easy to ask God and it's hard to send God, even if the eldest brother is alive, he won't agree lightly, right? ”

Thinking of Yan Qigu's parting words at the end of the funeral to persuade the members to accept the conditions of the joint opening of Huamei, Yan Sicheng sighed at this joint letter of intent that will put the lifeblood of the members in the hands of Huamei in the next few decades.

Yan Sihai, who was overly drunk, had already crossed his body, and he even had no energy to welcome Huamei's visit to the Wèn group, and after the doctor sent by Huamei examined, the answer he gave was "If you take good care of it, you can live for a few more years."

The Chinese and American sides have hinted that they will support their own future administration, but this must be based on "close cooperation."

What if you don't say yes? Last year, the Huamei Asian Fleet carried a delegation from the Oriental Union Group to visit the senior member of Wèn, and this article was sent by Qian Laosan in front of Liu Chang, commander of the Huamei Asian Fleet. If you don't agree any longer, maybe Huamei will choose another one with the surname Yan, right?

Speaking of temper, Yan Sicheng thinks that he still has a hard backbone, and he can't be disgraced, but after experiencing a stupid thing that was secretly coerced by the Zheng family, Yan Sicheng finally saw what the Yan family was based on. Without beauty, he Yan Sicheng is actually nothing.

Not to mention that the Yan family now has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, even if it is 100,000? The U.S. Navy invited itself to visit the joint exercise between the Penghu Naval Division and the U.S. Asian Fleet, which was covered by naval guns like the Shura Field, which is still vivid in my mind.

After thinking about it for a long time, Yan Sicheng finally let out a long sigh, signed the word "Ke" on the text with a brush, and then put it in the middle of the document to be processed. Probably not long after, a special person and a representative of Huamei Oriental Union Group officially signed a cooperation agreement in Hong Kong. (To be continued......)

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